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Fringe Gods
In the country of Absit, worshiping gods outside of Caelum’s pantheon was basically a crime and those who sought to worship anyway had to do so in hiding. Now in Esor, the settlers from Absit have a much greater degree of religious freedom and as such, these “fringe gods” have started to be worshipped more openly. There are still high ranking members of the Church of Caelum who see these worshipers as blasphemous but without public support and a new generation of priests who are more open minded filling the church, they are quickly becoming irrelevant. The majority of the population among the Absit Settlers sees these fringe gods as existing basically as lesser divine beings. The Church of Caelum officially doesn’t share this view but many low level priests will say there is no harm in viewing these as lesser gods. These are some of the more well known or commonly worshipped fringe gods among the Absit Settlers. Saint Lorva Said to once be human paladin, St. Lorva was a fierce undead hunter that was granted divinity by Amor after slaying an undead dragon that had destroyed and nested in a church of Amor. St. Lorva calls on his worshipers to be ever vigilant because the war against evil is never complete. A very recently made official guild, Lorva’s Hunters, started as a group who called to St. Lorva as their patron saint, even though they don't have much to do with the religion anymore. There are even some in the Church of Amor who recognize St. Lorva’s divinity, but rarely publically. *Alignment: Lawful Good *Domains: Glory (Honor), Healing, Law, and Protection *Symbol: Although there is no official symbol, the guide symbol for Lorva’s Hunters is a fully armored woman standing atop a slayed undead dragon *Favored Weapons: Maces, Hammers Liliane One of the few original Elven deities to still be worshiped in some form, Liliane is the goddess of love and personal freedom. She is said to look over and protect any form of true love. Because of this, many Half-Elves see her as a protector, thinking their existence comes from true Elven love transcending even racial borders. Although there is no large organization that follows Liliane, it is not a strange sight to see Elves or Half-Elves (especially Bards) carrying a charm of hers. *Alignment: Chaotic Good *Domains: Charm, Good, Liberation (Freedom), Strength (Self-Realization), and Travel *Symbol: A common charm of hers is the symbol of a rose but Half-Elves are known for carrying one that is a rose intertwined with another flower *Favored Weapons: Bows Kras Kras is said to have been born too early when Caelum was creating the inhabitants of this plane. As such he took on traits from many of creatures who would come to be, emerging from Caelum’s power as a strange and alien beast. But he took something else as well, a spark of divinity from the massive pool of energy from which he was born, that would later become the moon. Long after Caelum finished creating the world and separating himself, Kras found a tribe of mortals (different stories tend to change the race of these mortals) and used his divine power to turn into a man so he could live among them. Soon after he fell in love with one of the women of the tribe and lay with her. She became pregnant with Kras’ child but soon after tragedy struck. During a hunting trip a feral bear attacked a man who Kras had become very close to and, unable to see this friend killed, Kras took on his bestial form to destroy the bear. The man was far from grateful however and he and the rest of the hunting party fled back to the rest of the tribe. Kras stayed in the forest for some time, unsure how to return until he saw a large pillar of smoke rising from where the tribe lived. He sprinted full force, turning back into a man along the way, back to the tribe thinking that a fire had broken loose only to find something much worse. When Kras returned he was welcomed at spear point while, in the center of the village, his lover burned at a stake. Kras made it in time to hear her final painful scream before death. Kras lost all control over his bestial rage, becoming the strange mix of creatures he once was, and slaughtered the entire tribe, then fled this plane in anguish. It is said however that some of the tribesmen had survived the attack but were changed forever. Once the moon rose, these survivors found themselves changing into a beast that was similar to the part of Kras that attacked them. These survivors are thought to the first lycanthropes and the ancestors of the modern disease. Some spite him for bringing the curse to mortals, while others can relate to his tragic story but it would be rare to find a lycanthrope who did not know the story of Kras. *Alignment: Chaotic Neutral *Domains: Animal, Chaos, Strength (Ferocity), and Travel (Exploration) *Symbol: A set of fangs biting down on the moon *Favored Weapons: Spears, Natural Weapons Asgothea The goddess of negotiating and contracts, Asgothea is worshipped by judges and others who study law. She is normally depicted as a woman holding out a quill by those who worship her but, mostly as a joke, others have been known to depict her as a succubus trying to convince mortals to trade away their souls. The largest organization that recognizes Asgothea as a deity is the official guide Accordia, who commonly negotiate deals between other guilds and don’t have the strongest public opinion. *Alignment: Lawful Neutral *Domains: Knowledge (Education), Law, Nobility, Rune (Language), and Rune (Legislation) *Symbol: An unrolled scroll with a quill, or just the quill *Favored Weapons: Hammers Somnium The god of sleep, dreams, and hallucinations, Somnium is worshipped by illusion mages and drug users alike. Religious “ceremonies” for Somnium often include taking mind-altering drugs. The hallucinations caused by these drugs are seen by Somnium’s followers as “true dreams” given to them by Somnium instead of their usual dreams, which can be corrupted by other influences like a stressful day or anything else that is on your mind as you sleep. The magically talented followers of Somnium tend to focus on illusion magic seeing creating images for others is similar to emulating Somnium’s power. *Alignment: Chaotic Neutral *Domains: Artifice (Alchemy), Chaos (Revelry), Chaos (Whimsy), Healing (Medicine), Luck (Imagination), and Magic (Alchemy) *Symbol: A glass vial, usually with some colored smoke escaping from it *Favored Weapons: Daggers Gilgesh Gilgesh is the god of trade, gold, commerce, and fair dealings. He is followed by merchants of all kinds but most of their followers are Halflings, especially those in the Vergearin guild. Many see Gilgesh as a fair and just god, much to the disdain of the followers of Asgothea. *Alignment: Lawful Good *Domains: Artifice, Community (Cooperation), Luck, and Nobility *Symbol: A pile of bag of gold coins *Favored Weapons: Crossbows Filum Also known as the Great Stitched One, this God is worshipped by necromancers and dark alchemists who have fallen out of the favor of Densum. It is said that this god was once an apprentice of Densum but was banished because his mentor was jealous of his understanding of the universe and its functions. The ultimate goal of Filum is to reconnect the different limbs of Caelum, reversing everything he created by separating himself. Because of the nature of this god, his worshippers gather a lot of hate from both followers of Densum and the many undead hating organizations in Esor. *Alignment: Chaotic Evil *Domains: Chaos (Entropy), Death (Undead), Evil, Madness (Insanity), Magic, and Void *Symbol: A tarnished, dented helmet usually with a skull inside of it *Favored Weapons: Staffs Moracai Once said to be a good deity whose job was to carry unclaimed and restless souls to their afterlife, Moracai has been darkened and corrupted by the endless exposure to tortured souls. He has twisted his original purpose and now believes it is his job to deliver all souls to the afterlife, even those who still reside in living bodies. Assassin’s and murders alike call on Moracai to watch over them as they perform wicked deeds in his name. Even if he now stands aside evil deities, Moracai despises undead because it prevents the natural movement of the soul and as such there have been some corrupted paladins and clerics who hunt undead in his name. *Alignment: Neutral Evil *Domains: Darkness (Loss), Death (Murder), Evil (Corruption), Madness, Repose (Souls), and Trickery (Ambush) *Symbol: A soul escaping a dying man *Favored Weapons: Scythes and easily concealed weapons Lex'Matis Lex'Matis is a strange deity and a source of contention even among his faithful. There are several accounts for how we came to be in his current state but the most common theory is that he was once two seperate minor deities. The original gods, Lexium and Matisum, were identical twin brothers. Both were loremasters but Lexium sought to find knowledge on the divine and Matisum sought arcane secrets. The brothers requested audience with Densum hoping to get insight into the arcane and divine. Densum told them they weren't ready for the knowledge they were chasing and it would destroy them in the end. They ignored his warning and snuck into his sanctum, stealing a tome describing the spells Caelum used to split himself into multiple powerful beings and create the multiverse but ultimately Densum was correct and the brothers, being too ambitious for their own good, attempted to recreate the magic for themselves. The spell backfired and instead of splitting into multiple powerful deities, the brothers fused into one. They gained extraordinary power this way but all that universal knowledge came at the cost of their sanity. Followers of the new deity, now known as Lex'Matis, tend to be apologists for the twin brothers. Either claiming that their new form was worth the loss of their sanity or that it only happened to them because Densum tricked them. Some lore seekers regard the god in high esteem because they see his quest for knowledge to be admirable. It is common among the Absit Settlers to refer to people suffering from mental insanity as "touched by Lex". Devout followers tend to decorate the halves of their bodies differently such as tattooing one half of their body only, or changing the style between the two halves, cutting half their half differently from the other half, or even dyeing the two halves of their clothes different colors to represent their deity. * Alignment: Unaligned (Unlike other deities, Lex'Matis has no alignment, or rather it may be more accurate to say he has all alignments) * Domains: Artifice (Alchemy), Chaos, Community (Education), Evil, Knowledge, Law, Madness (Truth), Magic * Symbol: Any object that is half blackened as if burnt, commonly a mask * Favored Weapon: Double Weapons